Come to think of it,7.674 billion people on the planet live in 195 countries. If you imagine these countries as teams, say basketball teams, it’s not hard to have everyone play in one sports league. Of course, we have the Olympics to handle that.
And yet, if you want to learn about all these diverse cultures and the magnificent ways they’ve contributed to the world in general, then there may not be a better way to do that than to travel.
You may read about how powerful certain civilizations were before. Those of the Roman Empire, which ruled a more significant part of the civilized world for over 1,000 years, are concrete examples. But your education goes a deeper level if you travel to Old Rome today. Not only will you marvel at the 50,000-seating capacity of the Roman Colosseum but also you’ll understand how an ordinary Roman lives with all the artifacts left behind.
Some people will argue travel is for the senses. While that is true to some extent, visiting places can indeed give us a better perspective as to how civilization has evolved. After all, we learn better when all the senses are used in learning. Well, if you’re not convinced about the merits of travel, learn some reasons it can play a central role in education.
Widens Your Horizons
There are a lot of things that are not recorded in books. When you travel, you open yourself up to a greater perspective. That’s because you begin to see it from the other person’s point of view, something you can hardly arrive at when you’re filled with biases from your country of origin. Usually, we absorb biased opinions that are available to us via our local media.
When you assimilate other economic, social, and political structures, you widen your view of the world. In short, you gain a broader global point of view.
The student of history who wants to learn about ancient civilizations and their way of life will know more when traveling to the original place than when reading it from books. That’s because the more senses are involved, the greater the learning. It’s true for both children graders and teen high schoolers.
Inspires Creativity
Creativity is the ability to bring about something that has not existed before. It’s a critical trait in learning. Without the creative genius of Leonardo da Vinci, we wouldn’t have the Mona Lisa, arguably the world’s most prized work of art. You may put creativity in a box ruled by artists. However, pundits believe creativity played a huge in the success of Albert Einstein and other great scientists. It’s a small wonder da Vinci is a polymath.
Fortunately, travel also stokes the creative process. As Adam Galinsky, a renowned professor at the Business School in Columbia, detailed, there are concrete links between travel and creativity. When you expose yourself to cultures strange to your own, your ability to connect things and create from distinct ideas heightens.
Technical-vocational-livelihood (TVL) training teaches skills and practical knowledge to allow graduates to work and earn right after graduation. In a way, traveling can also be a great addition to TVL senior high school programs. However, far too often, learners fail to develop creativity, which should allow them greater success at work and in business.
By engaging in travel, there’s a good chance TVL track students will do better after graduation. That can certainly be arranged with government grants and private sector aid.
Connects Better with Others
People from different cultures have distinct ways of doing things. As much as you can research, there’s no better way to understand cultures than traveling to those countries. Eventually, you’ll realize that we are the same at the core.
It’s true; cross-cultural experiences can puncture your very own cultural bubble. By doing so, you can empathize better with people from other lands even when their way of life and culture is distinct from yours.
As pundits spell it out,people who have extensively traveled place greater trust in humanity’s ability to come out on top of any problem. This is incredibly reassuring in the age of the virus when everyone reels from its adverse effects. Wegain faith when we see other cultures different as they are from our own.
Challenges You to Grow
You have to make do when you travel. You no longer are in your comfort zone. You can’t demand things that are otherwise easily demanded in your locality. That can certainly give you goosebumps thinking about it. But the truth of the matter is it allows you to grow.
When you have to make the most of a new environment, you need to wield your planning skills to the utmost. You need to look ahead to come up with food on the table even when everyone is not speaking English, for instance. By immersing yourself in strange cultures, you grow. You have to.
In the process, you sharpen yourself better than if you stayed. You can be exposed to and learn different things that you won’t usually find in your home country.
